My child was born with a complete atrial ventricular septal defect as well as Tetralogy of the pallet. She has down syndrome as well as autism. She is a beautiful intelligent girl, and capable (when healthy) of speaking clearly and communicating her needs. However, when she is extremely unwell, she loses her words. That's how I describe it. The words are there but she cannot find them to express her needs clearly. Because of this she often cannot express things like her level of pain or feeling nauseating, until that issue is so severe that she begins to vomit. This was the case today and the last four days that she has been at the hospital.
She had open-heart surgery on Friday. The surgery itself was a miracle as we have waited 6 years for the surgeons to make the decision that the valve could safely and successfully be repaired. Thankfully, the surgery went well, and I was told that unless there was a complication with her recovery, her outlook was good. Unfortunately, we did have a complication. Within 24 hours of surgery, she was violently vomiting. This put great strain on her surgical incision and caused her tremendous pain, which in turn caused her to vomit more. It was a vicious cycle that we could not break. I was desperate to make her better. Neither of us had much hope that today would be much better though. It was this situation that Nurse Kristy walked into. In 12 hours' time she turned this entire situation around. She used excellent nursing skills as well as an abundance of human compassion and patience to help my child break the cycle of intolerable pain and repeated vomiting. In 12 hours' time, she not only learned her nonverbal cues and communication, but she had earned her trust to the point that my child found her words and spoke to her. When I asked why she was talking to this nurse and not anyone else, she said, "because I feel comfortable." It was through listening, communicating clearly with her and her very stressed momma, coming up with a plan of care that my child could follow and feel in control of, and just overall being an awesome nurse and human being. She managed in one shift to break a cycle that we had not been able to do in several days. I cannot say "Thank You" enough to her. I am so grateful for the effort that she put in today. She has given me hope that everything will be ok and that my child will go on to thrive with her new, healthy heart.